The Vampire of the Maple Forest
by Yandere4Manga
Summary: Mathieu just wanted to go camping, but after an accident, he finds himself in the home of an egotistical vampire. PruCan


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Pairings: PruCan, and briefly mentioned USUK

Raiting: PG -13

Warnings: Yaoi (boyxboy), vampires (not the sparkly kind XP), and violence. (to be honest, it's not that bad)

Summary: Poor, underappreciated Mathieu finds himself in the hands of an egotistical vampire named Gilbert, and becomes a prisoner in his castle.

Written by me, edited by Shadow Ginger

This is an idea I had one day, I was like, "I wanna write PruCan…" then I watched Beauty and the beast, I decided it wasn't depressing enough, and needed yaoi XD. So, ya, I hope you enjoy ^^ I'm working on the next chapter, so it should be out soon~

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><p>Mathieu drove down the long, endless, road. His car was packed to the brim with supplies, which made his car smell like his dusty attic. He was all ready for an extended camping trip he desperately needed. His brother, who either ignored him, annoyed him, stole his stuff or all a combination of the three, had just gotten a new British boyfriend, and was even worse than usual. He now ignores him even more, annoys him anytime they see each other by talking only about his boyfriend, and steals even more of his stuff! In order to keep whatever sanity he had left, he needed to get away to the great outdoors. Not that he was particularly sporty; it's just that, being out in nature really relaxed him.<p>

He had heard that there was a camp ground not terribly far from where he was living, that nobody one ever went to, because of a 'vampire that lives nearby, in a haunted mansion that the devil himself crafted out of souls and woes of the ancient dead.' He had heard this ghost story from his brother, in turn he heard from some random hobo on who lives in the town next to said haunted castle. Mathieu thought it was just a silly rumor someone started for a laugh, or maybe it was to cover up a murder, either way, he didn't believe it. Besides, he heard that it was a beautiful forest; it even had a waterfall near the center of the woods that he planned on fishing in, why would he miss out on that for some stupid rumor?

So, he drove on, soon he started seeing houses through the dense forest, the town was getting closer, and he wanted to eat at a restaurant before he secluded himself off for three weeks. He slowed down as he entered the small town. But…something seemed off about the town, just looking out his window, he could tell the few people on the streets were skittish, 'something must have happened recently, these people seem scared out of their wits.' But after deciding it was probably nothing, he mentally dropped the subject and began looking for a place to eat. Scanning the town as he drove, he finally found a place that sold food that was open. Apparently, most of the places here were out of business.

He parked in a small parking lot and entered an old restaurant. It was very quaint place, he thought, and it smelled like his two favorite things; pancakes and maple syrup. A waitress led him to a table near the back of the small dining room, after he managed to get her attention, and gave him a menu, which he took gratefully and ordered a drink. He quickly skimmed the menu, even though he already knew what he wanted, "And, what would you like to eat, Sweetie?" the waitress soullessly smiled as she placed his drink on the table.

"A plate of pancakes," he answered, and then added, "with extra maple syrup, please."

"Comin' right up," she said as she disappeared through the kitchen's doors.

He sat patiently in the old wooden chair, stomach growling with hunger, it wasn't a surprise though, he hadn't eaten since 5am, and it was nearly noon now. The drive to this town from his was nothing to sneeze at. A couple of teenaged girls apparently heard his loud stomach, and started giggling at him, making him blush and turn his head to the window beside him. Then they started talking with each other again, a bit too loud too, so he couldn't help but to over hear their conversation.

"…I heard that another girl from our school was kidnapped and found with teeth marks on their neck!" One of the girls exclaimed quietly, "She was alive, though she 'lost' a lot of blood, there wasn't any blood at the crime scene! And there was another attack, and they almost couldn't identify the body, but turns out it was some tourist on their way to the mansion."

"I heard that old Joe from by the lake saw it!" the other replied, "He said it had red eyes, like, they were glowing and everything!"

'_Yeah, right. Like I haven't heard thousands of similar stories from Alfred,'_ he thought idly as he rolled his eyes. Then, soon, the waitress from earlier came back with his food in hand and set it on the table in front of him, "Thank you."

She seemed to not hear him, he was used to things like that. It was a rare thing for someone to actually notice his existence. He quietly dug into his plate of pancakes, and came to find that they weren't bad, but decided that his homemade ones were better, although the syrup was fresh and warm, better than the stuff you buy at the store. He closed his eyes blocking out the chatter that almost over took the room and focused on his food, rather than his problems. Unfortunately, by the time he had relieved his tense mind, his food was gone, and he needed to get going if he wanted to get to the camp ground before dark. So, he paid the bill, though it was more than the pancakes and drink were worth, and then walked out of the restaurant.

He made his way to his car, and got in to the driver's seat of his car and left the parking lot, finding his mind wandering back to the conversation of the girls at the restaurant, _'It's not like its real, I mean, a vampire? It sounds like something out of an old movie…'_

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><p>Hours later found Mathieu in front of a nice, perfectly constructed, campfire. The air was crisp and filled with the scent of maple as the light breeze whistled through the branches of the trees that stretched elegantly over the blonde boy. His light blue eyes were sitting heavy and half-lidded on his head as his head lulled to one side. Despite his many attempts to stay awake, he found himself slowly drifting in and out of consciousness. Soon, his form, sitting in front of the campfire and leaned against a tree, jerked awake to the sound of a howl from a couple hundred yards away.<p>

It didn't really frighten him, it was just unexpected, he was used to it, and as long as he minded his own business, the animals would too, because it totally wasn't a vampire. He just stood and stretched a little bit to wake himself up. His red plaid flannel shirt with a thick puffy vest fitted over it was lightly dusted in dirt from getting his camp set up, as well as the knitted hat that sat on top of his head and the knees on his jeans were coated in it. His eyes lightly scanned the scene as if to make sure everything was still there. His campfire was in the middle and his red tent was only about two yards from it, and his car was still parked in sight; he still had a lot to unpack, but it was late by the time he got there so he decided to just wait until morning.

He observed the trees around the small empty area his camp was situated in; they were all old maple trees. He looked up above the treetops to the moon; it was shining brightly in the cold night sky. The clouds that eerily hung the sky were back lit by the full moon, casting small drifting shadows on the ground to slowly pass over whatever was not coated by the campfire's warm light. Although Mathieu was close to the fire, he suddenly felt a chill rush over his body. The hair on the back of his neck was now standing up, and he could feel fiery eyes burning his back coming from the thick trees.

A large gust of wind made the campfire in front of him flicker sharply. Mathieu was frozen stiff; he tried to move, but feared there would be consequences if he did. After a few moments, he worked up the courage to glance over his quivering shoulder. The flash of black that he saw dash in the woods behind him was all Mathieu needed to jump inside his tent to grab his shotgun. He was only planning on hunting a few birds with it, not using it in self-defense, but apparently, luck was not on his side today. He waited in his tent for a minute, waiting for a sign that the intruder (Or, was he the intruder…? Come to think of it, if no one had camped here in a while. Maybe the animals probably aren't used to people here?) was still there. When he was sure there was no one outside, he slowly tip-toed out of the tent, his eyes shifting carefully around, looking to see if anything was still there.

He stood completely still, his ears tuning into any sign of movement. All he could hear was the loud beating of his heart. It was too loud and he could barely hear anything over it. He slowly turned around, looking deep into the forest trying to find the frightening presence he felt, but he didn't see anything - until he was turned completely around. His blood ran cold, because it defiantly wasn't a vampire. He was staring at what seemed like belonged out of a horror novel. It was a giant black wolf type of creature, its haunches were nearly as tall as he was, and it was rabid. Vampires weren't real, so they didn't scare him, but this certainly was real.

It stumbled slowly towards him, but stopped a few yards away. A low continuous growl escaped from its mouth that was nearly ground shaking. Mathieu couldn't breathe. Terror. Fear. That was all he could process of the massive mangy canine. Its eyes were on fire with fury and its muscles tensed from hunger. Its teeth were coated in a grotesque combination of foam, mud, and blood presumably from biting his tongue, which Mathieu noticed was torn. Mathieu could not stop his eyes from watering with fear and pity for the poor creature. It was all alone and hurt, even if it was terrifying and about to kill him. It was then he remembered the gun he was holding. It suddenly felt heavy in his shaking arms as he started to slowly back up.

As he started moving backward, the beast kept its eyes locked to Mathieu's. Mathieu's nerves were almost fried, and even in the cold, he could feel sweat dripping down his back. And, after staring into the cold, almost desperate eyes of the pitiful, horrifying animal, his mind went completely blank. He ran. He didn't know why or when, but something in the back of his mind screamed at him, "even with the gun, you can't win this." His heart was racing as fast as his feet, which were moving faster than he ever thought possible. He would have thought it impossible if he could have thought at all.

The scenery around him quickly began to change. The trees grew less frequent, and the smell of maple faded. The monster behind him stumbled and slid, but followed closely. Foam emitted from its mouth and flew into the air behind it. Mathieu could feel it, and he didn't know what it was exactly, but it was frightening. His soul shook to its core as the – what he could only describe as – hellhound chased him.

He wasn't just running for his life anymore; he was running for the very safety of his soul. His stomach churned as he spared a glance over his shoulder. It was still there, but it didn't even look real anymore. It was literally falling apart at the seams and was half transparent. Its tail, only half attached to its body, was dragging on the ground. Was there a piece of its skull missing before now? Bone shone brightly in the moon light wear it was exposed on its ribs and ankle. And what was most frightening, was the lack of blood. It was if its delicate body had been dry of blood for years, but it had been coated in blood just a few minutes ago, or was it an hour? Time all but blurred together when you were this scared.

And he was, he was scared, he couldn't feel it at the moment, but he knew it. His heart ached in fear. Would he never get to see his pain in the ass of a brother again, nor taste the glorious taste of pancakes? Was he really going to die? Why? Why did he have to die here, now, at the hands of a creature spawned from nightmares – nightmares that made full-grown men scream in utter terror alone in their beds? He didn't want to die, but to add to his fears his body was losing strength and energy. His legs were running almost as sloppily as the ghost corpse and his lungs were almost gagging for air.

A tower, there was some sort of tower ahead – it was a building! Mathieu's eyes grew wide, not in fear, but in hope. He started sprinting, sprinting even faster than he was before. His heart, his life, his very existence (however unnoticeable) was resting on the gates of the castle that lay a mile away. That one mile meant everything. Everything. But, his heart grew lighter as the gates grew closer. The beating in his chest almost acted as a timer, although it was beating fast, it made time seem to slow down, but then, time stopped completely.

The world felt as though stopped as Mathieu's foot found its self under a stray tree root, from a dead tree that stood just inside the gate. The monster was a few yards behind him; it had fallen behind a little during Mathieu's sprint. Time, at that moment, to Mathieu, it didn't exist. All he knew was that the second he hit the ground he heard a snap as he yanked his foot out from the root and stood straight back up, and just kept running.

The iron bars on the gate were spaced widely apart and the wrought iron bore a look that screamed to anyone to stay away. Thorns were woven around each bar and, if one were to look closely, you would see bits of bones from long ago littering the base of the fence. The fence itself seemed to go on forever making one feel small and insignificant. Mathieu, of course, didn't give a damn about any of this as he jumped through a large gap in the gate and chanced one last glance. What he saw happen frightened him almost as much as the chase, the horrible, pitiful creature dissipated as it ran into the gate.

Mathieu refused to stop, until he made it through the doors of the ominous castle. As the wooden door with the large metal braces stretched across it, slammed shut, relief beyond explanation coursed through Mathieu's body. He let out a long sigh…

"Maple!" he screamed, clenching his knee when the pain of his broken ankle finally set in. He withered in pain on the dirty marble floor, but once the initial shock melted away he realized something.

"Where… Am I?"


End file.
